THIS THAT AND A THIRD

The blogosphere's love affair with Facebook-MySpace traffic wars just won't stop.

On Thursday, TechCrunch posted new statistics from ComScore that show Facebook now pulling in nearly twice as many unique visitors worldwide as its News Corp.-owned competitor.

About 222 million people visited Facebook worldwide in December (keep in mind that the social network pegs its active user count somewhere just north of 150 million these days) versus 125 million people for MySpace.

This comes less than two weeks after other ComScore statistics indicated that not only was MySpace still bigger in the U.S., it was way ahead in page-view count and time spent on the site.

But worldwide, the new ComScore numbers indicate that Facebook has a bigger edge on page views.

I have a headache now.

MySpace offered a statement in response, and it's not denying that it's been eclipsed in traffic:

We are laser focused on building a sustainable global business which we measure by profits and revenue--not just eyeballs. In a tough economic climate, our international revenue is up 30 percent year over year and we continue to focus on those markets with the strong monetization opportunities.

Additionally, MySpace continues to dominate the U.S. market--where the bulk of online advertising revenues reside--both in terms of monetization and user engagement with more than 76 million unique users and a 40 percent spike in engagement year over year.

MySpace does have a point. With News Corp.'s media muscle behind it, not to mention a stronger foothold in the U.S. and a willingness to use splashier advertisements (i.e. "wrapping" the homepage), it's not too hard to see that MySpace probably still has a notable edge in the advertising race.

As reported in November, executive vice president at Def Jam, Shakir Stewart, was found dead in his home which police reported was a successful suicide attempt. After the heat of his tragic death settled, DefJam promoted Jeff Straughn to senior VP of strategic marketing which handled most of Stewart's jobs but the official position that Stewart held was still vacant.

On January 22nd, Def Jam released news that they had in fact found a replacement for the Executive Vice President spot and it would be going to Chris Hicks. Hicks co-managed acts like Mary. J Blige and Usher and was senior vice president of A&R at Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell Music.

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He's Innocent! OOOWWW!!!

Former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam 'Pacman' Jones is reportedly being sued by his former lawyer for failing to pay his legal fees.

According to Creative Loafing Atlanta, Manny Arora filed a lawsuit against Pacman this week claiming that the controversial cornerback owes him "in excess of $10,000" from 18 cases in which he represented either Pacman's family or friends.

Among Pacman's friends that Arora represented was Fleming “Ill” Daniels. Daniels was third-in-command in the Black Mafia Family (BMF) drug gang.

Kanye West has posted a response on his blog refuting a recent rumor that he is willing to do bisexual porn.

Read what he said after the break:

Darrin Nobles, business management senior, was obsessed with Bill Gates.

“I always thought it was because Darrin liked computers, but I think of it more so now that Bill Gates did something for himself — something great,” said Nobles’ mother, Kim.

Now, Nobles has done something for himself — he’s created his own company.

“I never had aspirations to just sit around,” Nobles said. “I always wanted to start something different.”

While hanging out with friends one day Nobles said, as a joke, that the opposite of the apparel store Banana Republic would be called Watermelon Democracy. Though it might have been nothing at the time, the idea of Watermelon Democracy kept Nobles up all night. He began to develop his idea about what Watermelon Democracy could mean.

One of the T-shirts available on WatermelonDemocracy.com, the Web site for Nobles’ T-shirt company has a picture of a sliced watermelon with the words “Hard body, rich soul.” The watermelon represents “the development of the our core and strengthening of our outer surface we can achieve the success, power and true freedom that we desire,” according to the site.

Evolution, power and freedom are the three key ideas of Watermelon Democracy, Nobles said.

Nobles has a vision. Watermelon Democracy is not just a T-shirt company, even though it currently only sells T-shirts. Nobles said he wants to make Watermelon Democracy a brand. Within the next year he hopes to sell jeans and collared shirts. Eventually, he wants to open his own store.

“I want this to be something that your grandkids will wear,” Nobles said. “In the mall you’ll walk by American Eagle, Banana Republic, and then Watermelon Democracy.”

Nobles works with Rudy Mullen, a designer who is a friend from high school. If Nobles has an idea he’ll call Mullen, who attends school in Dallas, and Mullen will create what Nobles had envisioned.

Nobles said his favorite shirt is black with a picture of a skull sprouting a flower. The words “We are the creators of our own evolution” are emblazoned across the front.

“The leaf from the top of the head symbolizes that from our brains we spawn growth,” Nobles said.

Nobles and Mullen attended a fashion trade show last weekend in Dallas, where they showed their designs in the “urban street wear” floor.

“Buyers wanted to know why we were on that floor,” Nobles said. “They thought we were more contemporary and modern clothing.”

Because of the success at the event, some Watermelon Democracy T-shirts will be featured in, Red’s Swagger, a clothing store in Dallas.

Since Watermelon Democracy clothes will soon be available in the store for around $35, Nobles said he will have to raise the prices on his Web site by the end of the week.

Nobles said he decided to start Watermelon Democracy while in Norman, even though it would have been easier if he was in Dallas and around more people.

“We need our own stuff here,” Nobles said. “I wanted to use OU as the campus to get us off the ground. I wanted to give students a chance to get the shirts before the prices go up.”

http://www.WatermelonDemocracy.com

http://www.myspace.com/watermelondemocracy

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Watermelon-Democracy/25723557851

The Internet is abuzz with the latest supposed offering from Apple; however a search for the product on the Apple website did not yield any results. The product in question is the Apple triBook. The Apple triBook aims to resolve the issue of screen space that traditionally is a bugbear for most users of notebooks. The triBook comes with two additional side screens in additional to the main screen; thus increasing the total screen space to 21″.

The two folding screens are intended to offer users more options to multi-task. However prima facie evidence, as gathered from reading other reports online, suggests that it is gamers who have responded most cheerfully to this news. The Apple triBook is set to hit the markets in 2009 though there is no concrete word on its pricing from Apple.

The triBook is about 6.75 inches tall, 10 inches wide, and about an inch deep. It is easily portable. When closed the two side screens fold in and rest between the main screen and the keyboard. When open, the two side screens need not be pushed back to be in a straight line with the main screen, they can stay opened at an angle and protect your content's privacy. The three screens enhance the functionality of this notebook and you can achieve a lot more on this than you would on a single-screen notebook. The triBook is fitted with a high caliber CPU, an 8x SuperDrive and a number of I/O connectors. If the concept takes off, the 3 screens could well become a standard for laptops.

FUNKLAH ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS: GUCCI MANE RELEASE PARTY. COMING SOON!!!! @ The Metropolis in Cleveland, OH...

Former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry is releasing a tell-all book based on his time with the record label and his memoir reveals shady business practices by Sean "Diddy" Combs.

The book, titled Dancing With The Devil, is slated for release in February. In the first chapter of the book featured on Curry's site, Curry claims that Diddy likes to steal his artists shine and overcharge his artists.

"Puff has an annoying habit of inserting himself into the songs and videos of all the artists on his label and its common knowledge that many Bad Boy acts resented him for this," Curry writes. "Asked about his practice in the July 1995 issue of a magazine aimed at black teenagers, Puff said: 'I like performing with my artists. I like talking on the records and I like being in the videos. It protects my interests in terms of what I’m going to do in the future. Say if a company tries to remove me. It's going to be hard to remove me and still have my acts and [have] the same level of intensity and the same flavour and feeling'."

"Puff charged the artists for his appearance on their records and videos, usually without [them] realizing it until they receive their royalty statements," Curry writes. "That’s when they discovered that their large sums of money had gone to fees which were doubled, tripled and even quadrupled because of Puff's 'special appearances". He charged artists, for example, for having his Bentley in his videos-which he insisted upon- then took tax credit for business use of a car."

Curry appeared on Diddy's Forever, Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous album Born Again and Diddy's The Saga Continues. He is well known for his appearance on the 2001 hit "Bad Boy For Life".

Before she was the biggest-selling female pop star of all time, she was just an aspiring model who had no problem taking it all off or eschewing razors.

The nude Madonna photos in question will be auctioned off at Christie's Auction House for an expected $10,000-15,000 a pop, according to reports.

Are you interested? At least in checking out a sampling of these Madonna nude pictures, if not adding them to your office wall on a permanent basis?

A Boston-area company plans to begin flight tests this year of a two-seater airplane that moonlights as a car.

The aptly named Transition takes a stab at bridging the gap between automobiles and airplanes. Some people call it a flying car. The company designing and selling the vehicle prefers the term "roadable aircraft."

Either way, it boils down to this: You sit down behind the steering wheel, drive to the runway, unfold two wings and take off. You can fly 500 miles on a tank of gas -- regular unleaded -- and when you land, you simply fold up the wings and drive where you want to go. At the end of the day, you fly back, drive home and park inside your garage.

Terrafugia, of Woburn, Mass., is not the first firm to attempt what may be the ultimate hybrid.

Alonzo Mourning announced his retirement from the NBA at a press conference today (January 22).

During his 16 years in the league, Mourning made seven All-Star appearances and won a championship in 2006 as part of a Miami Heat squad that included Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade.

Mourning was known on the court for tenacious defense and off the court for his charity work. He also made an incredible comeback to basketball after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2003.

Mourning played for The Charlotte Hornets, The Miami Heat and The New Jersey Nets during his lengthy career.